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Thu 19 Dec 2019 15:04

Any - Losing Confidence In Your Indy? - joegrundy

I've often posted here about how good my local indy garage is. I've used them for years and have found them to be efficient, honest, good value, obliging, etc. But I've also mentioned that they were growing, employing more staff, were very (over?) busy, and that the opportunity to talk about the car symptoms/apparent issues had diminished.

Today I had further cause for thought. My ex-DiL (but we're all still close), little mechanical understanding and limited financial resources, has for quite a while complained of the smell of petrol from her old Chevy Lacetti 1.5. She took it to the indy, who supposedly looked at, saw a minor oil leak, diagnosed a leaking rocker cover gasket (which may cost £200), said they;d tightened it but it wasn't worth fixing. The car has an airbag warning light lit, and they said it wouldn't pass the next MOT.

She just called me.Fortunately, she has access to a very well qualified, non financially motivated, specialist who has looked at the car. After checking the fuel pump, he has diagnosed a badly corroded (?) fuel filter and connections. Fixed at a parts cost of £7.20.

I'd like to think that the indy's failure was because of being too busy, growing too fast, than anything else.

I'll have a look at the airbag light issue myself (I've got a cheap obd2 reader) but if I find that the problem is the common connector issue I'll be a bit more discomfited.

Disapppointed.

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Thu 19 Dec 2019 16:05

Any - Losing Confidence In Your Indy? - badbusdriver

My Mother in law replaced her Kia Rio earlier this year. She had owned the car since new (the 1st scrappage scheme). Shortly after signing all the paperwork for her new car, she had mentioned she'd taken the old car to the garage due to a strong smell of petrol (this it had been ongoing for a while apparently but she never mentioned it as the smell wasn't as strong!). The garage she uses is a very well respected indy in town, and apparently they couldn't find any leakage after examining it on the ramp. About a week later i was round at hers fixing the garden gate and a couple of other things, so decided to have a look myself as i could certainly smell the petrol!. Low and behold, upon looking under the back of the car i could see exactly where the fuel was coming out. The join between the top and bottom halfs of the tank had rusted and the fuel was coming out there!.

It made me wonder though, how on earth would they have not sussed out immediately where the leak and smell was coming from. I hadn't used this garage myself (a reputation for being a bit pricey), and resolved never to do so!.

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Thu 19 Dec 2019 16:27

Any - Losing Confidence In Your Indy? - gordonbennet

The issue now is diagnostics, and cost/time to diagnose balanced against value of car, understandable because how many customers are going to be happy to shell out 4 or 5 hours of diagnosis plus the eventual repair resulting in a £500 bill on a car worth £200 with a full tank.

Its the age of the make specialist now IMHO, i know full well if given the right symptoms my MB indy will already know what the likely problem is before he lays eyes on the car, but he couldn't be expected to have the foggiest about our Toyota or Subaru, he is the only reason we ran MB's for so long, fortunately the Japanese cars are more reliable and durable so up to now at least specialist diagnosing of complicated issues hasn't been an issue.

The new young mechanics may not have the same knowledge about old school common sense diagnosis and confirming with machines, these days its plug the machine and see what it tells them, on the other hand old time kerbside cowboys like me are lost when it comes to electronics.

This is not just cars, one make of lorries is being trunked some 150 miles to get issues fixed because the local main dealer for that depot is about as much use as a chocolate teapot, luckily with loads going to and fro the vehicles can be swapped to suit and swapped back a day or two later, another make have been fully transferred to another depot for similar reasons.

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Thu 19 Dec 2019 21:48

Any - Losing Confidence In Your Indy? - galileo

My Mother in law replaced her Kia Rio earlier this year. She had owned the car since new (the 1st scrappage scheme). Shortly after signing all the paperwork for her new car, she had mentioned she'd taken the old car to the garage due to a strong smell of petrol (this it had been ongoing for a while apparently but she never mentioned it as the smell wasn't as strong!). The garage she uses is a very well respected indy in town, and apparently they couldn't find any leakage after examining it on the ramp. About a week later i was round at hers fixing the garden gate and a couple of other things, so decided to have a look myself as i could certainly smell the petrol!. Low and behold, upon looking under the back of the car i could see exactly where the fuel was coming out. The join between the top and bottom halfs of the tank had rusted and the fuel was coming out there!.

It made me wonder though, how on earth would they have not sussed out immediately where the leak and smell was coming from. I hadn't used this garage myself (a reputation for being a bit pricey), and resolved never to do so!.

Could the fuel level have been low when the indy had it on the ramp - the joint may then have been rusty but dry, more fuel when you checked made the leak obvious?

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Thu 19 Dec 2019 22:09

Any - Losing Confidence In Your Indy? - johncyprus

No just the opposite. Coincidentally my CLK 320 let me down for the first time in six years at the weekend. Whilst in heavy traffic she suddenly lost power as if I’d run out of petrol. After 10 minutes she eventually started and the next day I took it to LA Motors in New Haw Surrey, a Merc specialist who have serviced her for years.
They diagnosed a failed crank sensor and gave me a price. I picked it up the next day and the price was £80 less than I was quoted when I asked why it was because the part was cheaper then expected.
That’s what I call service.

Edited by johncyprus on 19/12/2019 at 22:13

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Thu 19 Dec 2019 22:56

Any - Losing Confidence In Your Indy? - Andrew-T

Lo and behold, upon looking under the back of the car i could see exactly where the fuel was coming out. The join between the top and bottom halfs of the tank had rusted and the fuel was coming out there!.

You surprise me, BBD. I thought all modern tanks were plastic ? Not rusty ?

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Fri 20 Dec 2019 11:18

Any - Losing Confidence In Your Indy? - John F

Lo and behold, upon looking under the back of the car i could see exactly where the fuel was coming out. The join between the top and bottom halfs of the tank had rusted and the fuel was coming out there!.

You surprise me, BBD. I thought all modern tanks were plastic ? Not rusty ?

A tip for anyone reading this thread with an old car with a metal tank - keep the petrol gauge above halfway mark. Although my 1980 TR7 was Ziebarted from new, tanks can corrode from the inside owing to condensation, especially if they sit around not doing anything from one week to the next. I like to think the join is mostly submerged. Anyway, no probs so far!

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Fri 20 Dec 2019 11:33

Any - Losing Confidence In Your Indy? - gordonbennet

Landcrab steel tanks used to rot through at the seam, not as they were alone in this, helped by the edge on at least one side of the seam forming an effective small dam, where pooling water could not escape from, being penniless at the time i repaired the thing with P40 resin reinforcing, did the job.

Steel tank on the 124 Merc, but it sits behind a metal bulkhead upright across the front of the boot, ISTR its galvanised too, overkill seeing as it's sited in probably the safest part of the shell.

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Fri 20 Dec 2019 14:18

Any - Losing Confidence In Your Indy? - bathtub tom

Landcrab steel tanks used to rot through at the seam

Had a Princess that suffered the same. Found a car in a scrap yard that looked like it had been driven into a telegraph pole just after having a new tank fitted! They were a flat triangular thing that held 18 gallons IIRC - it had about five in it!

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Fri 20 Dec 2019 14:40

Any - Losing Confidence In Your Indy? - Andrew-T

<< Although my 1980 TR7 was Ziebarted from new, tanks can corrode from the inside owing to condensation, especially if they sit around not doing anything from one week to the next. I like to think the join is mostly submerged. >>

Good idea, John, but condensation will sink to the bottom of petrol, thereby reaching the seam. So not a total solution. Water is not completely insoluble in petrol anyway.

I seem to remember a tale, when I was a student, of a car which required a backseat passenger to add petrol to the tank via a funnel while travelling, presumably because of a leaking seam.

Edited by Andrew-T on 20/12/2019 at 14:42

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Fri 20 Dec 2019 20:56

Any - Losing Confidence In Your Indy? - badbusdriver

Could the fuel level have been low when the indy had it on the ramp - the joint may then have been rusty but dry, more fuel when you checked made the leak obvious?

Maybe, but the marks from where the fuel was seeping down the outside was obvious regardless of whether or not any was leaking out at the time.

You surprise me, BBD. I thought all modern tanks were plastic ? Not rusty ?

No idea about that, but the car was a 2008 model, and it was definately rusty in the seam.

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